Business

Advertising spending in U.S. measured media is expected to show almost a four percent gain in 2008 compared to the previous year, when spending was up about three percent, according to a new study from GroupM.

PR Newswire announced its acquisition of Hispanic PR Wire, LatinClips, and Hispanic Digital Network, recognizing the need for highly targeted marketing tools among those who communicate with the influential, fast-growing Hispanic market.

Planet Earth and global manufacturing issues increasingly figure into consumers’ spending decisions, with a vast majority of holiday shoppers expressing a willingness to pay more for eco-friendly gifts and taking note of the country where items were made, says the 2007 Annual National Shopping Behavior Survey by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP.

To shed light on how different generations are “consuming” media — and what their future media preferences are likely to be — Deloitte & Touche USA LLP’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice commissioned an extensive survey on the evolving role of media in America. This State of the Media Democracy survey offers a generational reality check on the usage of current media platforms/devices and what the future may hold.

What will the new year bring?

It’s that time of the year again, to look ahead at what the next year might bring. So here are 10 trends that I think will dominate 2008. Seasons Greetings to all and Happy New Year!

JWT released its list of 80 things to watch in 2008.

HOLA Networks has signed on two new Web publishers, increasing its existing reach of an estimated 4.5 million unique U.S. Hispanic online users.

The Nielsen Company reported that advertising spending for the first three quarters of 2007 decreased –0.1% over the same period last year, with Internet continuing to demonstrate the strongest performance (plus 15.9%) of any category.

According to preliminary figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the leading provider of competitive advertising information, in addition to Internet advertising, other categories that showed an increase during the first three quarters of this year were: National Magazines (7.7%), National Sunday Supplements (6.0%), Outdoor (5.7%) and National Cable TV (1.2%).

In the 1980’s, branding guru Alan Siegel, Chairman of Siegel & Gale, introduced the concept of “Corporate Voice” to create communications programs that unified a company’s diverse exposures and built a distinctive, focused, coherent identity that would rise against all background noise.